11 october 2022, Flor Linckens
Vulnerable maturity in the work of Hellen van Meene
Until 22 October, Galerie Fontana in Amsterdam is presenting a solo exhibition by the award-winning photographer Hellen van Meene. The Dutch photographer is perhaps best known for her coming-of-age portraits of teenage girls and young adult women on the brink of adulthood — a defining stage of transition for her characters, both physically and psychologically. According to the photographer, these young girls and women have a certain transparency and openness that aren't as visible in the faces and bodies of adults. Van Meene has made photographs in the Netherlands, as well as in Russia and the United States. She often scouts her models in her immediate vicinity or on the street.
The photographer carefully directs her characters, partly because it seems to reassure them in a way that makes them reveal more of their personality. Yet their identity is not central to the resulting pieces. Rather, the photographer seems to be looking for timeless, universal images, resulting in untitled works. She also doesn't dress her characters in contemporary clothing, in part because she finds that it tends to overpower the image. Instead, she prefers clothes from thrift stores.
Hellen van Meene, Untitled (no 527), 2022, Galerie Fontana
The photographer usually works in analogue mode, making skilful use of colour and natural, subdued light. She developed a unique visual language that refers to seventeenth-century Dutch painting and art-historical greats such as Botticelli, Velázquez and Millais. The photos are palpably intimate, honest, vulnerable and imperfect. They radiate something dreamy and melancholic and the mysterious compositions evoke a certain psychological tension. This intimacy also translates into the formats chosen for her work: they are often printed in a smaller, square format to invite the viewer to come closer.
In addition, Van Meene also photographs (androgynous) boys and still lifes, in addition to dogs — despite the fact that she was always afraid of the animals. In her latest series of works "Iluminaria - Vigil Flame", now on display at Galerie Fontana, her characters revolt against the patriarchy.
Hellen van Meene, Untitled (no 526), 2022, Galerie Fontana
Van Meene studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, followed by training at the Edinburgh College of Art. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and has been included in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the MoMA, the SFMoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the MoCA, the Stedelijk Museum and Huis Marseille. Her photographs appeared in publications like The New York Times and The New Yorker described her work as "otherworldly". In May 2019, she immortalized Greta Thunberg for the cover of TIME Magazine. In the Netherlands, her work has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Fotomuseum Den Haag and Huis Marseille.
Hellen van Meene, Untitled (no 520), 2020, Galerie Fontana
